Damp proof needed in South London - trust issues!

[GreenEggs8Ham]

Has anyone used a good specialist company or builder to fix rising damp problems in South London?

DH and I knew we'd got some rising damp in the place we bought - 3 bed semi - got it at a good price. The first quote we had was for a chemical damp course - came in at c. £3k. The second quote found more issues - chemical £5k, physical £8k. The house is great apart from this, so we just want to get it fixed - we can imagine staying here for 15 years.

Have you had experience of this, good or bad? If anyone has had work done they think is great, I'd love to hear any recommendations as my biggest problem is knowing who to trust.

I'd be wary of companies diagnosing and then quoting problems. Rising damp is actually quite rare, and you need to find the cause of damp before spending money on so called solutions.

Get an independent damp surveyor in and then work from there. Check gutters etc yourselves.

I would echo Olivia lots of companies diagnose then propose their company can fix it for a fee. I have yet to find a truly independent damp specialist. Or a company that will pay out against any guarantees issued without much hassling at a later date.

Those quotes are crazy! We had the same problem and used an independent damp surveyor - Keith Gardiner (based in Putney so I'm sure he'll cover your area). He did a full report for around £200 full of recommendations with no need for a crazily expensive damp proof course so saved ua so much money in the long run.

He won't carry out any work - but he will check quotes for you and give further advice. I thoguh the service was fab - he's got so much experience and is well worth it.

Just to note, I found him here on MN and there are other sites which recommend him if you Google. I think his company is called Independent Specialist Surveys.

Yeah. DPCs almost never work, because rising damp pretty much doesn't exist. Find the source of the water, and rule out ventilation issues. For example, is the damp mostly appearing behind furniture on external walls?

Thanks so much everyone – palpitations have worn off, but so glad to hear this sounds crazy ££ to you guys too. We are getting damp behind furniture, but also have a spongy joist at the front - still, a builder friend has said £200 to fix that once I've got the problem sorted. There's a weird drain pipe at the front which I'm sure I can address too. Will give Keith a bell as it looks great.

Again - really, thanks!

If you're in the London area I can recommend Keith Gardner of Independent Survey Specialists www.independentspecialistsurveys.co.uk

We bought a house in December 2013 and the surveyor highlighted rising damp. Loathe to invest lots of money in to something that might not work, I got Keith round to do an independent survey. It cost 150 but highlighted that the majority of our damp problems came from the gutters and uncapped chimneys. We knew we had to do the roof anyway, so got the gutters and chimnies sorted at the same time. The 150 saved us thousands in DPC not to mention the hassle of lifting floors etc.

Sorry - didn't see Crumbelina's post there. Glad Keith got another recommendation - he saved us loads of money.

Damp behind furniture could be condensation. This can be caused from lack of ventilation and excess moisture in the house. Lack of extractor fan, drying washing indoors and leaking pipes under the house could be a cause?

So glad I've seen this. Going to save Keith's details!

We are currently buying a house and had a homebuyers which indicated damp and have had a damp survey from a company that fixes damp so hardly impartial. Both surveys found damp but in different places so I don't trust either of them. Same thing happened when we bought our current house and we've never had an actual damp problem.